Amestris University
by TaylorHorst
Summary: Royai College AU where Riza and Roy are forced to share a room. Something bad happens to Roy, and Riza has to take care of him. Not too much fluff. Based mainly off the 2009 anime. Some swearing, nothing too bad. Mostly Roy and Riza, with some Berthold, Kain Fuery, and Jean Havoc among others.
1. Chapter 1

CH 1

Riza looked at her dad, smiling. This would be his first year as an alchemy teacher, and she could tell he was nervous. She was scared too, though. Secondary school was great, but going off to a university was a whole other story. There would be so many new people and things, not to mention she knew very well that assignments would be in great abundance. Packing the final bag into their little car, Riza hopped into the passenger seat, and to the university they went.

It was about a six hour car ride; not bad at all. However, going back home would be exclusively for holidays. They arrived at the university and as they unpacked, Riza finally asked,

"So, dad, are you nervous? It is your first time teaching, after all."

Berthold looked at her and sighed. "As a matter of fact, I'm only nervous that my students won't be able to keep up. I am teaching very advanced alchemy after all. And the flame alchemy," he held his thumb and forefinger an inch apart, "I'm this close to figuring it out."

They registered and signed in, and looked at their assigned living space. Riza widened her eyes in clear surprise.

"But… Dad, shouldn't we be sharing the same area?"

Berthold nodded slowly before realizing, "I suppose teachers and students can't room together no matter the circumstance. At least we're close to each other. Look; I'm right across the street." He smiled pleasantly, took his belongings, and walked away.

Riza stood there for a moment, collecting herself, before doing likewise in the opposite direction where her quarter lay. She looked at the card, muttering, "West Wing A honours. Floor 3, Room 6. Floor 3, room 6…"

She got cut off from her muttering by a young man about her age with dark, black hair and focused eyes.

"Careful," he said. "Are you okay?"

"Fine, thanks." Riza replied before continuing her scurry to her room.

Once she finally managed to find her quarters, she opened the door to find that her still-anonymous roommate had previously arrived. She'd done some redecorating, too; from what Riza could tell, the supposed bunk-beds she'd expected had been placed with the headboards against one another and the desks were on opposite sides of the room as opposed to being next to the bed. '_That's probably just how all the rooms are,'_ she thought. _'I'll ask my roommate once she gets here.'_

Thirty minutes later, Riza had completely unpacked and was putting her clothing into the dresser by her bed when something fell out of one of her t-shirts. She picked it up, and almost dropped it again out of shock.

It was a handgun.

Riza panicked. Guns weren't allowed on campus, and she'd hardly ever handled one before. She didn't even know how to fire it properly. She looked over the handgun, and there was a note attached to it from her grandfather, at the time Major General Grumman. She examined the note, which was on official military cardstock.

"_Riza-_

_I'm sure you're excited about college! Sorry I couldn't be there for your first day. You have potential, Riza. I know you'll go far. You're going to need to protect yourself, though. Take this handgun, there's a book on how to use it properly attached to this paper. Stay strong!_

_-Major General Grumman, Amestris Military"_

She was hardly surprised after reading the note. Her grandfather would do that. After getting over her initial shock, she put the rest of her clothing away and, with nothing else to do, looked over the handbook that had fallen on the floor unnoticed with the gun. It taught her how to clean and load it, along with how to turn the safety on and off. The gun was already loaded and came with one spare belt to use, just in case. She would see what she could do about shooting practice, though Riza wouldn't need much considering her excellently-perceiving vision. There was a rattle at the door. She quickly turned the safety on and, without anywhere else to put it, placed the gun under her pillow. The door opened to her roommate, carrying a mini refrigerator in their arms. After watching the struggle, Riza quickly decided to stand up and help get the fridge to its proper location, next to her roommate's bed. There was a loud BANG and then it was down. Her roommate, still panting, breathed a heavy "thanks" before plopping down on the bed. Riza looked up and gasped inwardly. "Hey, it's you."

"Last time I checked." The young man gave Riza a sarcastic grin, complemented by his twinkling eyes. She admitted; he was quite the looker now that she got a good look at him. His messy jet-black hair made it down to just above his eyebrows and he had an air of confidence about him.

Riza wasn't very fond of him, and rolled her eyes subconsciously in response to his remark. The young man sighed and thought, "_Oh great. I get her for the next four years. This shouldn't even be allowed; don't the dorms need to be separated by gender anyway? I'll need to ask someone about this. Hey, what about her…"_

The words came off more harshly than he anticipated, saying, "So this shouldn't be allowed. Why are you in my dorm?"

Riza glared at him, making her roommate uneasy. Maybe he should have chosen his words more carefully. "I guess they had an uneven number this year, they never told me I'd be rooming with a cocky black-haired playboy."

"Oh, come on. You can't have known that."

"I do now." Riza didn't know if he meant about the roommate or playboy, but she assumed he meant both. Couldn't someone fix this? Her dad, her grandfather, the dean? Riza looked at the clock on her dresser. The time read 11:35pm. She'd been here longer than she thought. Sighing, she lay down on her bed and reminded him, "It's late. We'll deal with this tomorrow, but for now let's go to bed. Classes start up for me tomorrow."

"Yeah me, too," her roommate replied, "I have this new alchemy teacher first thing. I hear he's never even taught before."

Riza laughed. "That's my dad. He knows everything there is to know on alchemy; he's even trying to figure out flame alchemy as we speak."

"Flame alchemy, huh?" he turned off the lights, so they were now conversing in the dark. "I'll have to ask him to teach me once he figures it out."

"Good luck. He hates taking on students. By the way," she yawned, "I'm Riza."

"Roy," her roommate responded. "Well, g'night Riza."

"Night."


	2. Chapter 2

CH 2

Riza woke up to Roy's alarm going off at 6:30am and groaned.

"Is your class really this early?" she muttered.

Roy flashed her a sarcastic grin. "Great, huh?"

She groaned again and drifted off to sleep for the next two hours.

Roy sighed and looked at his roommate. She seemed different somehow. More confident in herself, maybe. More fearless than the countless other girls he's dated. Roy thought it best to stay away from her; oh he'd probably be stabbed by a knife she keeps in her shoe or something. He looked at the time. 6:45. Class started at 7. '_Shit'_ he thought, and, taking one last subconscious glance at his new roommate, dashed out of the room for his daily classes.

Alchemy was interesting; he learned about its basis and history, and was to write a 5-page essay on it by the end of the following week. The teacher, Professor B. Hawkeye, was interesting and easy to listen to. In addition, he said he would give one assignment per week, so Roy had little to worry about in his class. Then came Politics and Economics, which was also interesting, though the professor was dull. All well, there were still plenty of attractive girls in that class. A bunch of them were wearing miniskirts, and for a brief moment Roy wondered what Riza would look like wearing one before focusing back on his task at hand. The rest of the day included the required classes for college freshmen to take, including literature, mathematics, and a language class. Roy wasn't very good at any of these classes, but he tried to do well in his math class because it might help with alchemy later on. By the time he was done with his classes, with a half hour break between each one, it was 7:30 and Roy was swamped with homework and exhausted as he trudged back to his dorm, not even thinking about the problem that was his roommate.

He walked into the room and landed face-first onto Riza's bed by mistake, as hers was closer to the door. She was sitting at her desk, which she moved to be on the wall opposite, and turned around, startled and wide-eyed.

"Everything okay, Roy?" She asked, mildly concerned but mostly focusing on her homework.

"Ugh… so much to do…" he began before rolling over, still on her bed.

"I understand. My 9:30 Politics and Econ class has me swamped; what about you? Did my dad drown you in alchemy essays and projects?"

"He's the best of them, actually," Roy answered, half-listening. "He said one thing a week. But I guess that means it's gotta be good."

"Oh, it does. Also, I contacted the person in charge of rooming."

"And?"

"And they won't let us change rooms. There's an uneven number, like you said. He said I should be lucky I'm not sharing with three guys, like one of the girls in the non-honours wing."

"What'd you say?"

"Well, I tried to be polite. But I wasn't. I told them their way of handling things is an abomination if they have to break a very strict code just because of the number of students being not exactly what they planned for. Then I hung up."

It was then that Roy gained much more respect for Riza. "Wow, well I guess we won't be getting any favors from them for a while."

Riza shrugged. "Guess not." Then she turned back to her work, which she was about half-done with.

Roy sighed to himself, and took his work over to his desk. Looking at his planner, he realized that his Politics and Economics class was the bulk of his homework, and proceeded to do that before anything else. It was confusing, though. A take-home test that was completely essay questions. Roy looked at the test a little closer to find there were 50 questions, all to be answered completely and with a minimum of 3 paragraphs to each due in two weeks. He groaned, knowing full well he'd be getting another assignment from that class tomorrow. He glanced over to Riza, who seemed to be finished with all of her work and was now looking ahead at future possible lessons in the same book he had for his 9:30 class.

"Hey… Riza…"

"Hmm" she replied, half-listening.

"Do you take Politics and Economics at 9:30?"

"Yep; already told you that"

"Oh. Whoops."

"Is that all, Roy?"

"Erm… no…" Roy inwardly punched himself for what he was about to do. "Could you… Could you help me with it? The homework, I mean."

Riza looked up from her book. She was wearing reading glasses. '_Hmm that's cute,'_ Roy thought before he could stop himself.

Riza complied, thought she thought to herself '_This was all taught in class today, and the rest is just common sense. Did he pay attention at all?'_ She glanced at his confused expression as she explained what they had learned today. '_Nope. Sigh.'_

Things went on like this for about two weeks, with Roy extremely appreciative of the days when he didn't have classes which included Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Since Riza had fewer classes to take, she also had Thursday off. Most of her free time was spent helping Roy with the class they shared, until one day Roy's alarm didn't go off. Riza had become accustomed to waking up at that time and woke up automatically, but at a much later time. It was 7:30 by the time she woke up. '_Strange,'_ she thought, '_Roy's alarm didn't go off… OH SHIT DOES THAT MEAN…'_

She didn't have time to finish the thought. Roy mumbled in his sleep and turned over onto his side and Riza completely panicked '_Dad won't forgive him for being late'_ she thought, and screamed "ROY!"

Roy woke up suddenly and fell out of his bed, landing on the floor and banging his head.

"Ow… Riza what the hell do you want?!" He asked, cross.

"Roy it's SEVEN-THIRTY on a WEDNESDAY."

"And?-Oh SHIT." Roy stumbled to his feet, brushed off what he thought to be his pajama pants, and ran out the door to his class.

Riza covered her mouth in disbelief. "Oh my god that didn't just happen. No, I'm dreaming. Oh shit, oh shit…"

The she proceeded to crack up.

Roy had just left the dorm to go to his classes.

In his boxers and a t-shirt, nothing else.

Riza really wished she could go after him, but she knew he was fast and didn't have his phone number to call him and tell him to come back. She got ready for her class she shared with Roy, and decided to take mercy on him by bringing him a pair of pants and an over-shirt with some shoes.

Roy sat in the back of the classroom for Alchemy, though Professor Hawkeye saw him as well as a few other students, and asked him to stay for a few minutes after class.

"Roy, what is the meaning of this?" He gestured to Roy's attire.

"Sorry, professor; I slept in and then I forgot to change because I was in a hurry."

"Well, make sure to keep your alarm set next time. You're the one rooming with my daughter, correct?"

"Yes, sir"

"Well, Riza hasn't complained about you yet. Just don't let this happen again. You're one of my top students and I don't want an example to be made out of you" the professor smiled and let him go to his next class, knowing full well that Riza would do something. She's spoken very highly of her roommate when they do get the chance to talk at the end of most days.

Roy thanked him and departed, sighing. '_If I had Riza's number,'_ he thought, _'I could ask her to bring me a pair of shorts or at least something. She probably wouldn't have anyway. At least these are my grey boxers, not the ones I was wearing a couple nights ago with the rabbits.'_ Roy shuddered at the thought. He could say goodbye to any chance of a good social life if that happened.

Roy deliberately came into class five minutes late, so that he wouldn't be punished and could sit in the back of class again where no one would notice. Riza anticipated this, and handed him a bag with fresh clothes in it. Roy stared at her in disbelief. He couldn't believe she would do that.

"Why… why did you do that?" He whispered as class began finally.

"I couldn't have you walking around in your underwear all day. You're in direct affiliation with me, and I won't have that.

"Oh… thanks."

At the end of the day, Roy came in late as usual, and Riza was already done with her homework. She helped with his especially quickly today, considering they did quite a bit on Tuesday. With nothing else to do, Roy tried to start a conversation.

"So… Riza…"

"What, Roy?" Considering his obvious past with girls, Riza assumed he was going to ask her out. It would take a lot more than a question for her to even consider it. Probably…

"Um, thanks again for saving my ass with the clothes."

"No problem. I'm still curious as to how you could forget."

"I don't even know; I must have been really out of it this morning and last night."

"Well, you did need to write that 5-page Alchemy essay last night."

"Yeah…"

"Oh, I almost forgot" Riza added.

"Yeah?"

"My friend Kain Fuery and I are having lunch tomorrow. Wanna come?"

"I have classes tomorrow."

"Friday, then."

Roy found no reason to protest. He really needed to meet some new people; so far he only knew Riza and his friend Maes, and Maes wasn't in any of the same classes with him. He also got a girlfriend recently, Gracia. He would hardly talk about anything else other than her. "_He really needs to calm down or else his heart's going to be ripped in two when they break up. A college relationship man? Those hardly ever last.'_

"Friday. Sure."


	3. Chapter 3

CH 3

Friday came, and Riza tried to get ready. She looked in her dresser and found that the only thing in there was a mini skirt and a complementing shirt. Riza didn't remember owning either of these things.

"Roy, what are these things doing in my dresser?"

Roy looked up innocently from the P&E essay he was finishing. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"_Roy."_

"What!"

She sighed and picked up the garments to show them to Roy. "Look familiar? What, did you hook up with a girl last night and take her clothes?"

"Of course not! I'm just returning the favor from Wednesday. Is it so bad I just wanted to do something nice?"

"I'm not wearing this!"

"But you have no other clothes," Roy pointed out.

"Why do you want me to wear this anyway?"

"'Cause I think you'd look good in it!"

"Why do you care about that?"

"I don't, it's just, um…" Oh, shit. He was stuck. In all honesty, Roy didn't even know why he did it. He saw the skirt and shirt on sale at thrift shop while he was looking around for posters for his wall, and thought of his first day when he saw all those girls wearing miniskirts. Then he thought of Riza, and how she would look so much better in one than any of those girls in anything, especially a miniskirt. '_Stop being weird Roy,' _he told himself. He bought the skirt and a nice shirt to go with it anyway. Her clothes just "happened" to be dirty. What a pity.

Riza walked up to him and slapped him across the face.

"Ow! What was that for?!" Roy rubbed the new red mark on his cheek.

"For making me wear this. You're lucky I didn't slap you harder, perv." Riza glared at him and proceeded into the bathroom to change. '_Worth it' _he thought. _'Wait, don't be weird.' _Roy proceeded back to his essay.

Once Riza walked out, he knew she was angry. It was written all over her face, however held back she might have been at the moment.

She did look nice, though. The shirt was form-fitting and accentuated her curves nicely. The skirt, however, was a crowning jewel. Her legs were long and perfect. '_Just like her. Wait, no, don't think that.'_

Riza continued to glare at him. "Roy this is ridiculous and I'm not wearing it. I look like one of the girls you hook up with.

"Hey! How many girls do you know of I've hooked up with at all?"

"I'm sure there's at least a few out there."

"You're being unfair" he whined.

"No, _you're_ just being ridiculous."

Riza dug through her drawers again and, not finding anything, decided to look through Roy's for any of her clothes.

"Aha!" She exclaimed, finally coming upon a pair of shorts she could wear in the heat with a comfortable t-shirt. She glared at Roy again. "Turn around and close your eyes."

"Why do I have to close my eyes?"

"The mirror, Roy"

"Fine"

Riza changed clothes quickly and, almost subconsciously, took the gun out from under her pillow and slipped it into her purse. '_Just in case, I guess.'_

Lunchtime rolled around and off they went to meet up with Kain. It was a simple, cheap deli place that Riza had picked out just off campus past a railroad track. When they walked inside, Roy saw a scrawny, dark-haired person about his own age with a huge pair of glasses that covered about half of his face. The other half of his face was covered by probably the warmest smile Roy had ever seen.

"Fuery! Hey! Riza Walked quickly up to the student and gave him a hug that wasn't hard, but seemed to be crushing him anyway.

"Hey Riza!" He choked in response. "How's it been?"

"Not bad. Homework's manageable. What about you?"

"Well, I didn't take the required freshmen classes senior year, so I'm a little swamped. I'll live thought." Kain laughed and Riza joined in.

"Oh, Fuery, I almost forgot. This is my roommate, Roy. Roy, this is Kain Fuery. We met like sophomore year of college when we were fighting over weather Xing or Drachma would be more likely to attack first if ever we went to war."

Fuery laughed. "I forgot about that nice stretch of desert between us and Xing."

Riza smiled. "So, lunch?"

Riza got a simple sandwich with a side salad, and Kain decided on a sub with some chips. Roy decided he wasn't hungry.

"You sure, Roy?" Riza asked. "It's really good."

"And cheap," Fuery added.

"Yeah, I'm fine"

Riza and Fuery shrugged and continue eating and chatting.

For some reason, Roy didn't like Kain. He was too close to Riza on that bench. He was too happy. He laughed too much. He made Riza laugh too much. He didn't like it. He didn't like the hug they shared when he and Riza first walked in. He shouldn't have hugged back. Can't he see that Riza's too good for a hug from him? What are they going to do next, kiss?

He accidentally said that last part out loud, just enough for Riza but not Kain to hear. She dismissed it for the time being. They continued talking and on occasion Roy would pipe in and have a pleasant conversation, but he was still bitter toward Kain. He didn't know why. Just the way he acted around Riza. It wasn't acceptable. Roy didn't like it one bit.

Once their lunch outing was over, Fuery hugged Riza and shook hands with Roy, and they went their separate ways.

"So, what'd you think of Fuery?" Riza asked as soon as he was out of earshot.

"I think he was too close." Roy said in a very frank tone.

"Well, he is one of my closest friends."

"Still too close"

"You're one to talk. Look how close you are to me right now." They both blushed slightly as they realized their hands were brushing up against each other, and Riza moved a bit to the side. Just then Riza got a phone call from Fuery.

"Hey Fuery!" she answered. "What's up?"

"Hey, um, Riza," Fuery sounded uncomfortable, "Could I, um, ask a favor?"

"Sure, what's up?"

"My roommate's um… with his girlfriend and um… well, he kicked me out and won't let me in. Mind if I stay with you for a bit?"

Riza snorted. "Sure thing Fuery. We're heading over to our doom now; you can hang with us for a bit."

"Why are you inviting him?" Roy complained quietly to himself. "I never agreed to this"

Riza smacked his arm to silence him, and he rubbed it resentfully.

"Awesome, thanks Riza! I'll be over there in like fifteen minutes."

"Cool. See you then." Riza hung up the phone and placed it in her purse. When she did this, Roy saw something glimmer in her purse.

"Riza is that… _a gun?!"_ Roy yelled in shock. "_What is that doing in your purse?"_

"Shut up," Riza began, "My grandfather gave it to me just in case I needed it. I can use a gun, don't worry."

"Have you ever fired it?"

"No."

That calmed Roy and simultaneously set him on edge. Riza knew how to shoot, and yet had never done so. That could be dangerous.

"Calm down. It's just for emergencies."

They were so intent on their conversation that they didn't notice the railroad they had to pass over to get to the deli. Riza was preoccupied trying to hide her gun further down in her purse and Roy noticed the oncoming train, assuming Riza would notice.

Everything seemed to go in slow motion. Riza stood in the middle of the track, somehow completely oblivious. How, Roy had no idea. He didn't have enough time to grab her and pull her back so as fast as he could he ran up and pushed her away from the train. He just barely made it, though. As he pushed her onto the ground, the deafening train came and caught Roy on the ankle, knocking it to a complete 50 degree angle.

Roy cried out in pain and shock and tried to hold back the tears from the blindingly sharp pain coming from his ankle. Riza looked, shocked, at the man who just saved her life.

"Oh my god…" she whispered before snapping back into reality. Roy had just saved her life, and now because of her he was badly hurt. She grabbed Roy's face and held it up to look at her.

"Roy, stay awake. I'm gonna walk you to the dorm and then we'll fix everything from there. Okay?"

Roy groaned in response.

"Close enough" Riza said before picking him up from under his arm on his bad side, making sure had to put absolutely no pressure on it whatsoever, as it was still in its awkward 50 degree position. She wrapped her arm around his waist and put his arm over her shoulder and hung onto it, walking slowly to accommodate his hopping.

Once they got to their building, they ran across their first obstacle.

"Damn, we had to be on the third floor," Riza said to herself. "Roy, do you think you can hop up these stairs?"

"Yeah of course I can," he whispered. He was still trying to hold back the choking tears.

"Okay, one at a time, okay? It's not even that many stairs. One… Two…. Three…." Riza continued like that until they finished the first flight and Roy needed to rest for a moment. He leaned up against Riza, panting, still choking back tears as best he could. He just wanted to get to the room already.

"Ready for the next flight?" Riza asked.

Roy nodded.

"Okay. There's eleven stairs, so let's count backwards this time. Eleven…. Ten…."

Roy didn't want to stop for the final flight. He wanted to get to the room as quickly as possible, lie down, and preferably have Riza care for him. She told him during one of their post-homework conversations that her grandfather taught her first aid as well as some pretty advanced medical techniques, like casting a limb, feeling for a break, et cetera. Basically, she could be a doctor if she wanted to be.

The third set of stairs was the least painful because of these thoughts. Riza just wanted to get Roy back to the room. It was her fault he was hurt, and she definitely couldn't afford a doctor. Fuery would probably be there by the time they got to the room; she'd give him money for supplies and then she would be able to care for him at least adequately enough for the nurse to take care of him. Hopefully.

Their room was in the middle of the hallway, which wasn't too far for them. Fuery was standing outside the door, smiling, but as soon as he saw what was going on he immediately looked worried and asked what he could do.

"Explain in a sec," Riza panted, shuffling through her purse for her key. Once she found it, she shoved it into Fuery's hand, and he unlocked the door, letting Riza and Roy through. The moment he did this, Riza shoved Roy onto her bed since it was closest and she didn't want to take those extra few steps.

Once she did this, Riza stood up and panted before grabbing her wallet and shoving it into Fuery's hand.

"Fuery, I'll explain later, but I need you to get me these things right now." She scribbled a list of medical items available at most stores and shoved it into his hand with her wallet. "Use my card if you have to, prefer cash. Quickly, thanks." Then she shoved him out the door to get the things.

When she looked over, Roy was panting on the bed, wincing every time he tried to move his leg. Riza rolled his pants up to see exactly what had happened. Well, it wasn't his ankle that was broken; his ankle appeared to be fine. His lower shin, however, was at that sickly angle. Riza kept her head and checked for open wounds or internal bleeding. Finding no cuts, she noticed the only bruise was where the break had occurred.

'_I'm gonna need to snap that back into place, aren't I'_ she thought, and sighed.

"Roy?"

"Uuuhhhgg" he responded with a pained expression.

"Okay, well, I had really hoped you were out cold because this is gonna hurt. A whole lot."

He repeated his pained groan.

"Okay, one… two… THREE" And Riza snapped the bone back into place, at least mostly. Roy screamed, and Riza took the miniskirt from earlier and stuffed it in his mouth to stifle it and give him something to bite onto ease the pain a little. After she was sure it was in place as best as she could get it, she got some ice from their mini fridge and placed it in a plastic bag and tied that to his shin with a towel. Roy was whimpering on Riza's bed, and Riza looked frantically around for any painkillers or sleeping serum. She found none, and immediately called Kain.

"Hey, Riza, everything all right with Roy?"

"Things could be worse. Listen; are you still at the store?"

"No, I'm on my way back."

"Okay, I'm sorry but could you make another trip to get some painkillers? Like, the strongest, most effective, long-lasting, best of the best painkillers?"

"Sure but I'll have to use your card."

"Don't care. The card is for emergencies, and this is most definitely an emergency. And please be quick!" Riza hung up the phone, thankful for Fuery's existence. She would be in so much trouble without him to help her out. She grabbed another towel and dampened it, and put a little bit of ice in there too to put on his forehead. He could be running a fever from an unknown infection or could just be hot and would need to cool down. She sat down on the bed by his shoulders and dabbed the rag on his forehead after feeling it. It wasn't feverish, surprisingly, but it was on the verge of being so. She continued dabbing the rag for several minutes before Roy finally said the pain was ebbing a little. She tried to coax him into sleep, but Roy refused. He didn't want to miss a moment of this. Riza continued dabbing, and her eyes trailed to his, which were already looking at her. They locked eyes for a moment, Roy lost in her beautiful amber eyes, and Riza transfixed by his confident black ones. They both stared longer than they intended to, and then longer. Roy wanted nothing more than to take her head and push their lips together again and again and again until they were both out of breath, but now was neither the time nor place. Riza secretly wanted to do the same, to just lean forward and… No, she couldn't. She had to help him first. She continued dabbing his forehead until Fuery arrived with all the equipment Riza needed, including some very stiff boards and a lot of gauze and medical tape, topped with a lovely bottle of painkillers. '_Guess I'm not eating for a week. All well, I'll survive. Roy needs this stuff.'_

She gave Roy three nice, large pills to ease the pain and hopefully to pull him into sleep. Then she took the stout planks and placed them on the left and right sides of his leg and wrapped gauze very tightly around it, followed by a nice layer of tight medical tape, topped with a tight wrapping of gauze again. Riza checked the stability and noted that if he stayed in bed then her makeshift cast should hold up nicely. She looked at the time. It was a few minutes before 6, and Riza realized that Roy wouldn't be able to go to any classes, and would be backed up on homework. She contacted her dad and asked if he could get the assignments for the next 2 weeks for Roy's classes, and he promised to have them to her by Tuesday. Riza sighed in relief and sat down at her desk chair. She and Kain spoke for a bit while Roy slept, and by around 10 he began to stir again.

"Looks like we should all be headed to sleep, it's been a long day," Fuery noted. Riza agreed, and then Fuery added, "Oh, and, um, Riza… my roommate is still with his girlfriend, and last time I texted him he told me she brought a friend along and… I don't really want to get involved in that."

"You sure?" Riza joked. Fuery smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, yeah you can stay here tonight. Here, take Roy's bed." She gestured to the bed. "I'll sleep on the floor."

"Thanks," Fuery said again before getting into Roy's bed. He fell asleep almost immediately.

Riza set up a sheet on the floor by her desk and rolled up a few other light, summer sheets to use as pillows, and lay down. Just as she closed her eyes, though, she heard Roy groan and call for her quietly.

"What?" She asked.

"I'm freezing," Roy said.

"None of the sheets will do you any good; they're all for when it's warm. Which it is right now, do you have a fever?"

"No, no it's just the ice that you've changed like six times is making me cold."

"Well you need to keep it there."

"Is there anything warm to use?"

"I don't think so… is there a thermostat in here?" Riza wondered.

"Doubt it." Then he got an idea that he knew Riza wouldn't like. "Could you, y'know, just sleep in this bed for tonight?"

Roy could feel Riza's glare through the dark, and had nothing to justify himself with. He just had to wait for an answer.

Riza sighed. "Only for tonight, and don't you dare tell anyone." Riza almost spat out the words.

"Why would I?"

"Just making sure." Riza took off her shoes and slid under the blankets with Roy, who immediately grasped onto her, shivering.

"Thanks," he whispered.

It was the least Riza could do. He did save her life, after all. She punched herself inwardly at her own stupidity. Thanks to her not paying attention on a railroad track, Roy is injured, she's probably not going to eat for a few days due to lack of money until her dad could put more into her bank account, and she now owed this playboy her life. She'd probably have to take care of him while he's incapacitated.


	4. Chapter 4

CH 4

When Riza woke up, she had forgotten that she and Roy shared a bed last night to keep him warm, and jumped suddenly at her awkward position. Roy was on his side, facing Riza, with his arm wrapped almost protectively around her waist. It appeared that he had pulled her closer and his face was buried in the side of Riza's pillow, very near her face.

When she jumped, Roy woke up.

"What's wrong?"

"_Get your arm off me."_

"Right. Sorry."

He then took his arm back and rolled over on the other side before falling back asleep. Riza stood up to find that Fuery had gone, and left a note saying that he needed to go and study for a test he had forgotten would be later that evening for his Saturday class. The bed was made to perfection, and Riza smiled at his habit of leaving things better than when he gets them. She looked over at Roy, who was still seemingly asleep, and decided that when he woke up he would need some more painkillers, and maybe some coffee to keep him awake enough to do his homework that he hadn't yet completed. Riza got these things and checked her makeshift cast. It hadn't adjusted itself, which was good, so she let it be for the time being and continued with her assignments for Monday.

It was about ten when Roy finally woke up, groggily, and looked at the left side of the bed, expecting there to be a certain amber-eyed blonde there, but finding none. He rubbed his eyes and looked around.

"Riza?" He asked in an early-morning tone of voice.

"Hmm?" She opened up the bathroom door that she had been in to change clothes. She had on a simple, comfortable t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. Her hair was up in a ponytail.

He looked at her. "When'd you get up?"

"About the time I told you to take your hand off my waist."

"When was that?"

"Around 8 this morning."

"Oh."

Roy tried to stand, but there came from his lower leg a sharp pain that immobilized him. Riza rushed over and laid him back down for a minute before helping him to sit up.

"Um. Thanks."

"No problem. Here, take this." Riza handed him a single painkiller and a cup of coffee.

"What am I supposed to do with this?"

"Ingest it."

"All of it?"

"What, don't you like coffee?"

"Not _black_ coffee."

"It has two sugars." Riza offered.

"Do I have to?"

"Yes."

Roy pouted before taking a sip of the coffee and swallowing the pill, and downing the rest of the cup he had been given. Suddenly he felt much less tired.

"Feeling better?" Riza smirked. Roy looked at her and very childishly stuck out his tongue in her direction.

"I still don't like coffee."

"Don't care."

Roy sat on the bed contentedly as Riza brought him a large flat plastic board and his laptop. He looked at her questioningly.

"Hey, might as well do something useful while you're useless." Riza told him. "So do your work." She walked over to her desk and continued to do just that. Roy just stared at his computer for a while, looking at the almost-complete essay he had to do.

"Can I just take a break?" Roy asked after 30 minutes of doing absolutely nothing.

Riza looked at him sitting there pitifully on her bed and sighed. Then she went to her dresser and dug out what looked like a tiny checkered suitcase.

"What's that?"

"You'll see."

She then removed the laptop and plastic board from Roy's lap and pushed him to the far side of the bed so there would be room for Riza as well. She put the plastic board between them and opened up the tiny checkered suitcase to reveal small wooden chess pieces.

"Riza, what-"

"You said you wanted to take a break. Sure, let's take a break. You know how to play chess, right?"

"Of course, but…"

"Good. Let's play."

"Okay, but I'm not going easy." Roy was, in fact, very good at chess. He didn't want to potentially hurt her feelings by beating her.

"Neither am I." Riza had been taught by her grandfather who was yet to lose a game of chess to anyone. He was also the one that had given her Riza the portable chess board in case she ever got the chance to play. Every time she and her grandfather played, it had always been an incredibly close match with him winning because of something Riza wouldn't have noticed, like a pawn or a bishop all the way across the board.

The game began. Roy, who was on white, went first. He moved his C2 pawn to C4. Riza's first move was E7 to E5. Roy moved his knight to H3, and Riza moved A7 to A6. Roy moved his first pawn again, to C3. Riza moved B7 to B5, and Roy moved his other knight to A3. Riza slid her bishop to B7, and he slid his A8 rook to B8. Her bishop was then moved to D5. Roy, not paying attention to the game and more, subconsciously, at Riza, moved his A3 knight to B5, killing her pawn. Riza killed his A2 pawn with her bishop, and Roy snapped back to attention.

"Hey!"

"What? It's just a pawn."

"How'd you get over there?"

"Have you been paying attention?"

"Yes!"

"Then I suggest you do something. Your move," she hinted.

Roy concentrated on the board. Her bishop couldn't do anything right now… except…. Oh! He figured it out. She was about to take his rook. He moved it out of harm's way, back to A1. Riza laughed and moved her bishop back to B3 and said, "Checkmate."

"What! No way."

"Look at the board, Roy."

"You cheated."

"How could I have cheated? It's chess. Also, why would I want to cheat?"

Roy looked at the board more intently. The king was only in harm with the bishop. How could it be there was no escape? The king couldn't move, and nothing could move into harm's way to save it. He blinked in surprise.

"Rematch," he demanded.

They played for hours on end, Roy being unable to beat Riza or even come close almost every time. Once, it came down to Roy having one bishop, one knight, one rook, and his king and Riza had her queen and her king. Roy thought for sure he would win, but she managed to kill off each of his pieces and managed to corner his king with her own and her queen so he couldn't move and won that way. Roy, by this time, had gotten used to losing and was pleased that he made it that far before he lost. He picked up her queen which was still on the board and moved it back and forth between his thumb and forefinger before holding it up to Riza.

"You, Riza," he began, "are the queen."

Riza looked at him with slight discomfort before he realized what he said.

He blushed until his face was completely red. "I mean, um, in chess."

"Of course," Riza said, blushing.

Before going back to her work, which there was very little of left to do, Riza changed this ice on Roy's leg and checked it over for anything unusual. Finding nothing, she looked at Roy and tenderly touched the break to see if it was healing.

Roy went to wince or at least prepare for a sharp pain as she felt, but discovered that her touch didn't hurt. It was just soft and pleasant. Riza, finding that there was nothing irregular happening, decided not to change out the splint. She then went back to her work, and Roy finally went back to his.

Later that day, Riza got a call from her dad saying that since she was Roy's caretaker, she and Roy were both exempt from classes until he could manage on his own. This apparently included assignments, though Riza was fairly certain that if this was the case her dad had to pull a few strings and use the "She's the granddaughter of a General Major" card which for some reason seemed to work for almost everything.

"Huh. Well, looks like you don't have much to worry about. Dad got us out of classes 'till you're better."

"It's not like I'm sick."

"No, but you're incapacitated. Your leg's broken."

"Oh. Well maybe I shouldn't complain…"

"Damn right you shouldn't." Riza looked at him. "Oh, and I guess you should get back to your own bed."

"But it'll be so cold! Can't you just share it with me again?"

"It was way too small."

"Well can't we…" Roy's voice trailed off. Then he thought of something brilliant and exclaimed, "Oh! I know; can we push the beds together? Just for the time being?"

Riza glared skeptically. His puppy eyes were incredibly convincing, however, and Riza finally gave in. "Fine. Just until you get better and aren't freezing over like some kind of childish icicle."

"Hey, YOU put the ice on my leg."

"Well, _you're _the one that broke your leg."

"I was dodging a train!"

"You should have stayed on the one side!"

"You would have died!"

"And then you wouldn't have to deal with me! Don't you find me annoying anyway?"

"No!" Roy lost it. "I couldn't bear that thought! It would drive me crazy knowing I let you die! You're just perfect, okay?"

Whoops. Roy did it again. He said something that he really shouldn't have, and now he was blushing like crazy once again. '_Twice in one day, Roy? You never slip up with any other girls. What's your problem?'_ He thought to himself. Then he looked at Riza, who was staring in disbelief with her mouth slightly agape at what he just said. Then, after a very long silence, she whispered, "Really?"

Roy reached up and scratched the back of his head uncomfortably. "Uh, yeah; I guess so…I mean... Yeah, I mean it." He coughed and looked down to conceal his cherry-colored cheeks.

Riza was looking down, too. Her face was almost as red, only she was trying and almost succeeding to get rid of the color in her face. It had become a dark pink when she got it best under control. "Oh, well, um, thanks." She smiled and proceeded to help Roy of her bed so she could push the beds backward for there to be more room upon walking in. The two beds, right next to each other, took up about three-fourths of the width of the room. Roy situated himself underneath the covers comfortably enough while Riza morphed the beds together. After that, she sat down on the double-bed next to Roy.

"Need anything? Painkillers, water, coffee?"

"I don't like coffee though."

"I still don't understand why."

"Because coffee is an abomination. It's crushed bean juice that's been heated to like a thousand degrees and people put it in twenty-dollar ceramic mugs and boil their tongues just for a little bit of synthesized energy from some disgusting bitter bean-juice."

"It seems like you have some pretty strong feelings against coffee." Riza laughed.

"Once I find the right coffee, maybe. Which will be never."

"We'll see about that."

"Whatever." Roy turned away and smiled. After a few seconds he looked back at her. "So…"

"Yes?"

"Quick question"

"Yes?" she repeated.

"What would you think if…"

Roy couldn't stand it anymore. He grabbed the back of her neck and pulled her in, hoping she wouldn't hurt him. Then their lips collided, and he kissed her.

He kissed her better than he'd ever kissed anyone ever before which, even though he was only a freshman in college, was still saying something. He felt an overwhelming sense of relief after she started kissing back. It was nice; her lips were soft and she didn't seem angry at him. After several seconds, he broke away.

"Um, Roy…" Riza's face was bright red.

"I guess that wasn't a question, huh." Roy commented meekly.

"No, but you still got an answer." She smiled. "Now, Roy, what would you think if…" Then Riza pulled herself on top of him, careful not to make contact with his splint, and kissed his nose, lightly and cutely. Then she aimed lower and kissed him right on his tender mouth. His tongue lightly brushed her lips, and she returned the favor with more fervor. Roy laughed lightly, and then had a gleam of mischief in his eyes. He took his arms, which she had pinned down, and wriggled them free, grabbing her by the waist and lightly brushing his fingers along her torso underneath her t-shirt. He stopped when she tensed at a certain spot he had brushed.

"Oh, my, that's a surprise." Roy whispered evilly as he began tickling her stomach.

"No; stop!" Riza attempted to move his hands but they were firmly set, and Riza was too busy laughing to be able to put up a decent fight. She writhed, and Roy moved her so they were both on their sides and he was still brushing his fingertips along that tender spot he had found. She eventually pried herself away from him, still laughing, and rolled over to her own bed. Roy stretched out his arms and grabbed her shoulder and moved her to face him. They locked eyes, and both thought it at the same time.

_This is wrong._

Something was wrong, this shouldn't happen. Riza thought it to be too fast. Roy thought it strange to be almost infatuated by someone so different from the girls he dated in high school.

_This is wrong._

They didn't have time to say it, for at that very moment, Riza's dad walked in on the scene.


	5. Chapter 5

CH 5

"Riza?" Berthold looked at his daughter, who's usually perfect hair was tousled and the bottom of her shirt was lifted due to Roy's tickling assault. She bounded out of bed in a panic and addressed her father, falling over in the process.

"Dad! Hey, what're you doing?" She asked, trying to regain both her balance and her composure.

"I just came by to tell Roy what he had missed in his Alchemy lesson today," he began. "And I walked in to see this."

"Sir, isn't the door locked? How did you get in?" Roy finally found his voice after the initial shock.

"Riza showed me her key the other day, and I myself have the metal alchemical basis to make a key similar to it to work once or twice." Berthold lifted up his makeshift key and twisted it around his thumb. "Also, I have some news for you, Riza."

She was worried. Was she transferring schools? Did she fail a test? Riza immediately felt the panic set in as she waited for her father's next words.

The anticipated bad news didn't come. Instead, he walked up right in front of her and leaned his head forward to whisper in her ear. He said, so quietly Riza could barely make it out, "I figured it out."

It took her a second to remember that her father had been working on how to do flame alchemy for the past several years. "Oh my gosh, really?" she exclaimed. "Dad that's fantastic!" She hopped up and down in place out of excitement and bounded forward to hug her dad. "How? You have to show me!"

Berthold smiled in a way that Riza thought was almost sad or worried. "Yes, of course, but first we need to come to my apartment so I can show you my research."

Riza was wary, but only for a second. "Yeah, sure! See you in a few, Roy. Can you take care of yourself until I get back?"

"Of course I can; don't worry about me." Roy gave her a huge, confident smile before bidding the Hawkeyes goodbye.

"Excellent. Riza, off we go. Goodbye, Roy." Berthold took Riza by the wrist and dragged his daughter away at a running pace.

Roy laid down on his bed in an almost exhausted manner once Riza had shut the door to their apartment and thought about those few minutes with her.

Yeah, they were great. Roy really liked her, but he was afraid of her at the same time. He was Roy Mustang. He heard girls talking about him behind his back saying Roy Must_bang_ in a joking manner. Those were the kinds of girls he usually dated. They were all attractive, they were all obsessed with him. Riza was different. She wasn't just attractive. She was _beautiful_. He was reminded by that every time he twitched his healing leg the wrong way. She was Intelligent and clever and Roy could hardly believe that she existed.

Roy was interrupted from his train of thought by a knock at the door.

"Unless it's Fuery you can't come in." Roy told the door.

There was a click and the door opened, revealing Fuery. He took a step forward into the room and smiled shyly. "Hey, Roy. I, uh…"

"So ROY's your name, is it? Great!" A tall, broad-shouldered student stepped through the door, almost crushing poor Fuery. His blonde hair was spiked messily all around his head. "Call me Jean. I'm Fuery's roommate."

"Jean. Hi." Roy was startled by the sudden appearance of a loud and rather bulky athletic-looking person into his dorm when he himself was completely incapacitated. His mouth was slightly ajar and his eyes were roughly the size of dinner plates.

"So, looks like you got a couple of problems from what Fuery here's told me," Jean laughed and rubbed his fist into Fuery's hair. "First off, your leg's an issue." He reached behind the door and grabbed an old wheelchair with back wheels large enough for Roy to propel himself if need be.

"Where did you get that?"

"Oh, my super-amazing girlfriend has a friend that tweaked her back the wrong way a couple years back. 'Course she's fine now. She just kept the chair just in case." With that, Jean took the chair and put it by the headboard to Roy's bed, and went to pick him up.

"Hey, what are you- HEY! What? Put me down! I'm fine! I don't need a chair! Riza's taking care of me! I'm excused from my classes! Put me down!"

"Oh, that's right. Your little friend. Riza…"

Jean plopped Roy, rather painfully, onto the wheelchair and Roy set it so his foot was propped up comfortably.

"Riza's your second problem, isn't she?" Jean gave Roy a wink and a smile, which Roy didn't appreciate.

"It's none of your business," he muttered. "Riza probably doesn't like me anyway."

"Hah! Bull."

"You have your own girlfriend to worry about, fuck off." Roy liked this Jean character less and less with each word that came out of his mouth.

"Hey, calm down. I'm just trying to get your second problem solved."

"Oh, really?" Roy was slightly interested now; he really needed Riza to like him. "And how do you plan on doing that?"

Fuery finally piped up. "Jean's girlfriend's friend is a friend of Riza's. She and I are going to go on a date with you and Riza. It was Jean's idea." He looked down, almost blushing.

Roy smiled at his friend before processing that he had said that there is yet another person that Riza knew that Roy didn't and he didn't like that.

"Wait, so there's another person Riza knows? Jesus, does _everyone _know her?" Roy was getting a bit jealous.

"Hey, she doesn't know me."

"You don't count."

Before Jean could protest further, Fuery reassured Roy that there was nothing for him to be jealous of. Jean's girlfriend's friend had known Riza ever since they were small and Riza doesn't swing that way.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean her name's Rebecca Catalina and you don't need to worry about anything."

"Oh, really? I thought…"

"You thought what?"

Roy took a moment to question himself before continuing.

"Never mind. When's the date?"

"Tomorrow, hopefully. Tomorrow night. There's a place near the sandwich shop that's a lot more suited for casual dates like the one we're planning. It's just a tiny sit-in diner only it has more food and the chairs are more comfortable. "Jean smiled, as if congratulating himself. "Kain here'll give you the rest of the info and help and whatnot. I'll be back tomorrow afternoon if you need any help. See you then! I'm off with my girlfriend." He smiled from ear to ear and almost floated out of the room, leaving Fuery and Roy alone. Fuery sat down, assigning himself to look after Roy in Riza's absence.

"So, where'd Riza go?" he asked. It wasn't often she left without him knowing. In fact, this was the first time that she had ever left unexpectedly without telling him. Fuery was more than a little worried; she could be in trouble and he would never know.

"Not sure, her dad said something about 'figuring it out' and then he took her arm and ran."

Kain looked at Roy intensely, and whispered, "Really?"

"Yeah…" he replied suspiciously. Fuery's reaction couldn't have been a good one. "Why?"

"Oh, um, I think it's…" Fuery cleared his throat. "I think it's that her dad figured out how to perform flame alchemy."

It was Roy's turn to whisper in shock. "Really?"

Fuery nodded.

"But… oh my god." Roy ran his fingers through his hair in exasperation. "How do you even do that?"

"Mister Hawkeye has been trying to figure out flame alchemy for years so he can teach it to his best student, and then there can be more flame alchemists. As long as they don't join the military, he's more than willing to share his knowledge."

"Who would want to join the military anyway?" Roy scoffed. Military state alchemists were called "the dogs of the military" and joining the army and killing people wasn't exactly Roy's cup of tea. It sounded barbarous and unnecessary if militaries and fighting altogether could be avoided. "So now I've just got to become his best student."

"If you want to learn that kind of alchemy, then yeah I guess you will. Maybe he'll teach you." Fuery shrugged. Just then, his phone rang.

"Hello? Oh, um… hi… yeah, I know… chapter sixteen right? WHAT?! That's TODAY? He said it wouldn't be for another week! Oh, no, oh no…" Fuery started pacing around the room as he listened to what his classmate had to say. "Right. Okay, hey, I'm coming over. I'll be right there, okay? Give me…" Fuery counted quickly on his fingers and muttered digits to himself. "Give me twenty minutes. Have an extra book ready and you can take my laptop and set it up too. See you soon. Bye." He ended the call and looked at Roy. "There's a submission test due tonight that I have to turn in. It's worth like, a quarter of my semester grade. I've got to go study and turn it in, that was one of my study group members just now. Will you be okay?"

Roy smiled at his acquaintance's worry. "I'll be fine. Go do your test. See you tomorrow, right?"

Fuery smiled and breathed a sigh of relief. "Yeah, tomorrow. Ice is in the freezer and your medicine is on top of that. You have to get straight to bed after taking any amount because it'll knock you out within like fifteen minutes."

"Don't worry about me, Kain. I'll see you tomorrow."

Fuery smiled and rushed out the door.

Roy rolled around in his wheelchair for a little while, with nothing to do. He saw Riza's chess set folded up by her dresser and pulled it out to set up the pieces. Maybe they could play a game or two once she came back. He smiled at the thought. '_The Queen of chess,_' he thought, '_and of much more too._'

He continued rolling around nonsensically for hours on end merely to entertain himself. He looked at his alchemy book and decided to get caught up. He began reading.

"The key to a perfect transmutation," it read, "is to focus your entire mind upon what you want to take, what you want to destroy, and what you want to create. Within the confines of your transmutation circle equation. The various transmutation circles are as follows…"

Roy continued reading until he came across the chart of transmutation circles for metals. His bed frame was made of steel; maybe he could make something for Riza. A ring or something.

Roy made a circle around the unneeded top round knob of the frame, being very careful to make the circles, angles, and designs perfectly match the picture and description in the book. Roy wasn't very good at metal-based alchemy, or any alchemy at all for that matter. But, he decided, it's worth a shot.

He looked at the circle arranged around the knob, and his heart started racing. This was it. Roy didn't know why, but for some reason it really mattered to him whether or not this worked. He took a deep breath and blew it out through his mouth before placing his hands on the rim of the circle. '_Focus. Focus.'_ He cleared his mind, and pictured what he wanted to make. It wasn't too ornate, the ring he wanted. It would be a normal band with a flower on it instead of some sort of gem, that's all. He thought about Riza wearing it, and it distracted him. There was a bright red flash that would blind anyone within ten feet if their eyes were open. Roy gasped and took his hands away to cover his face. Once the light faded, he looked at what he had done. What lay in front of him was what looked like a metal hair clip that was red from the tint in the metal and, Roy guessed, the bright light. '_Riza has long hair,'_ he thought, '_maybe she can still use it.'_

Roy struggled to put it on her dresser and get rid of the circle. Twenty minutes after this, Riza came in.

Roy was so excited.

Until he saw what had happened to her.

'_Oh, no. Oh, no. Don't let this be true. Don't'._


	6. Chapter 6

CH 6

'_No, please, no. No, no, no…'_ that's all Roy could think. Tears were coming to his eyes out of pure fear of the pain Riza appeared to be going through. _'No, no no…'_

Riza had stumbled in through the door, doubled over and gasping for breath. As soon as the door was closed behind her, she fell onto her knees and retched. She crawled over to the bathroom. Roy could hear her vomiting, rather violently. He immediately scooted onto his wheelchair to be there for her once she got out of the bathroom.

After several minutes, Riza finally made her way out of the bathroom and bumped into Roy's wheelchair.

"Roy…?" She whispered, her voice gone. "Where… where did you get that?" She collapsed on the ground, writhing. Her face was twisted in pain and tears were coming down her already stained face.

His voice was filled with worry. "Riza! What happened? Are you okay? What do you need?" Roy started to panic, but wouldn't let it show for her sake. "Tell me what happened."

Riza looked at him. "I'm…" she tried to regain herself and sit up on the floor, but winced and fell back down. "I could be better." She started writhing again, screaming in whispers of agony. She rolled onto her stomach and curled up. It was then Roy noticed something.

"Riza… what happened to your hair? Tell me, _please_!" Roy whispered as calmly as he could. _'No, no. What's happened to her? She was only gone a few hours. No, no, no…'_

Riza rolled back over and looked at Roy. She tried to give him a reassuring smile, but it turned into a grimace.

"That's it. Come here…" Roy grunted as he bent down to pick up his roommate and stick her on his lap, where he could take her to her bed without her needing to crawl. Compliantly, she rested on his lap, clutching her stomach and arching her back to an unnatural position. Roy took her head and leaned it against his shoulder, where she continued to breathe heavily for several seconds. He kept her there until she had calmed down enough to breathe normally and the tears had stopped for the most part. He got her a tissue to blow her nose.

"Here. Need this?" he handed it to her.

Riza sniffled and reached out to take the tissue, but as soon as she took one of her supporting hands away she winced and started writhing again. She re-clutched her stomach and closed her eyes.

He took the hand that was resting her head on his shoulder and put it around her shoulder in an awkward hug and rested it there. He took the hand holding the tissue and held it up to her nose after she had started breathing semi-regularly again. "Blow." Roy smiled.

Riza obeyed, and blew her nose into the tissue. Roy threw the used tissue away and repeated this process three more times. Her head was still on his shoulder, scared and exhausted. She began shivering. Roy, with some difficulty, wheeled over to her bed and slid her under the covers.

"Thanks, Roy." She whispered hoarsely, and smiled. She continued shivering for several minutes until the blankets had warmed her up sufficiently, and even then Roy had to get some winter blankets to cover her with, just in case.

Riza, from under the abundance of covers, looked at Roy. The sharp pain that engulfed her back refused to die down. She remembered his big, worried eyes and smiling face.

Then, everything was black.

She woke up to those big eyes again, this time filled with a mixture of worry and relief. The pain in her back had ebbed slightly, enough for her to be able to sit up in bed. '_Oh, okay, maybe not,'_ she thought as her back proved her wrong. '_Shit, shit shit shit. Dad told me not to tell anyone. Well, fuck him. If Roy wants to know he'll know.'_ She blinked and laid back down under her covers and looked at her patient. He must have hurt his leg, picking her up from that position. She'll need to get more ice for him. She need to get him medicine, and…

"Shh. Riza, calm down. Worry about yourself for once, won't you?" She hadn't realized she was talking aloud.

"But… your leg… Roy are you okay?" Riza tried to sit up again, and was pushed back down by Roy.

"_I'm fine. Calm down, Riza._" Roy commanded with calm firmness.

Riza glared at him.

Roy immediately winced and apologized. "Sorry. Just… Don't worry about me. I'm fine. I promise."

She sighed and looked at him again. "How long have I been out?" She croaked, surprised at the coarseness of her own voice. Then she remembered. '_Oh, yeah. Dad…'_ She shivered, and Roy immediately tensed. "I'm fine, Roy," she rasped. "Just give me a second. So how long was I out?" She wondered again.

"Maybe an hour. Not too long. Riza, what happened? You look horrible."

"Thanks. Girls love hearing that. You should know that already though."

"Sor- whatever. Riza, tell me what happened. You came in vomiting and you could barely move. You've only improved a little since then."

Riza looked into her memory of what had happened when her dad took her to show her his flame alchemy equation.

"My dad…" She began.

"Yes? What did he do?"

"He… he showed me his equation for flame alchemy. It was huge," she tried using her hands for emphasis before wincing and putting them back under the covers at her side. "Really complicated. I've never seen anything quite like it. He… he mixed alchemic equations together to get flame. Apparently flame alchemy needs an ignition, like in one of those new cars they're making. He said… he said you snap your fingers and bam. Flame."

Roy took this in. This was huge; if he could get Professor Hawkeye to teach him this secret Roy would be forever in his debt. Not to mention, he would be one of two flame alchemists in the entire world.

"What happened after that?" he asked.

"My dad said… oh, it was, um…" Riza racked her brain to remember his exact wording. "He told me that 'other people are after this formula, and he has to hide it.' I think that was almost his exact wording. He said that he had to destroy his formula and put it somewhere more permanent and secretive. That's when…" Riza stopped, remembering what had happened and failing to suppress the oncoming tears.

Roy had moved to sit next to her on her bed, wrapping his arm around her subconsciously.

Riza shuffled closer to him at the movement. She covered her hands, and tears dripped from under them onto her lap. After a few seconds she regained herself enough to crackle out the rest of the story.

"He… he took me by my…my hair," she managed from behind her hands. "He said he wanted to try his alchemy. It was horrible… she shook her head as she recalled it. "So hot… I don't even know how he could have made it that horrible. It must have been a different kind of alchemy…" she paused again. Roy didn't want to know about the fire he used on her. He just wanted to know why he was incapacitated, and Riza wanted to explain it to him or else he would go crazy and ask hundreds of questions and she would end up telling the story anyway. "He burned it through my hair, he said so that he could mark me easier. I didn't know what he was talking about. It hurt… horribly…" she took her hands away from her face and one made its way to the back of her head which, Roy noticed, was lined with a fine layer of blood and burns around the edges.

It must have been torture. By her own father, no less. He brushed his hand lightly along where her hair had been burnt off. There were a few small bald patches and burns in her scalp as well as around her neck. What little hair there was left was singed at the ends. Upon seeing this in detail, Roy was filled with pure rage. How _dare_ someone hurt Riza! How could anyone bring that upon themselves! She must have been screaming. Poor, innocent Riza. She went through something Roy didn't even think he could possibly handle.

'_I'm going to learn flame alchemy,'_ he decided, '_so that I can kill Professor Hawkeye with his own creation. I'LL KILL HIM!'_ Roy swore to himself. '_Riza… I'm going to protect her. I can't let anything happen to her, not ever again. This is too much.'_

Riza started talking again while Roy was thinking. "…and he said he needed _me_, that _I_ was the secretive and permanent hiding place for his years and years of research. I told him not to, I told him… that he was being ridiculous, and that alchemists could work together, couldn't they? Share their research. He said if he did, then the military would get a hold of it. He's really against the military for some reason…" she coughed. Roy rushed into his wheelchair and got some water from the tap in a cup and brought it over to her. Riza gulped it greedily, draining the cup in seconds. She gasped for air, and once she caught her breath she was speaking with less of a rasp and a more healthy-sounding whisper.

She continued, "He turned me around and pushed me into a wall. I didn't even see the wall there before, but it had places for my hands to slip in. They got caught; maybe it tightened, I don't know. I do know that he pulled up my shirt and then I felt… only burning… it was the same sensation he had when he had burned my hair, only so, so much worse. It was covering my entire back. I couldn't escape. I tried, I really did. I told him to stop. He only told me to keep his research safe. It burned… so much. Roy, it hurt so badly. I don't even know how I'm still alive." She looked at him with her big, perfect amber eyes and her eyes began to water again. She noticed and started blinking back the tears.

"Riza, it's alright," Roy continued to console her with both arms wrapped around her now, snugly. He started swaying her back and forth lightly as she held back sobs on his shoulder.

Riza shook her head. "It isn't, though. Look at this." She turned away from Roy, reluctantly breaking his grasp, and pulled up her shirt to show him. Roy couldn't believe what he was looking at.

"What? It this… is this real?!" There was an intricate, detailed design freshly burned into Riza's flesh, engulfing her entire back. Roy could make some sense of it; there were alchemic signs for oxygen among other things, all mixed together.

"So that's what fire looks like put into an equation." Roy spat. Riza pulled her shirt down. "That's…" Roy grunted disgustedly. How could someone do that to Riza? She was so innocent, so beautiful. Her hair was so beautiful. She was so graceful. Now she would likely be just as graceful as before, but she'd need to recover. Her hair could take years to grow out again. He wrapped his arms around her again, refusing to let go. He didn't want anything to happen to her. She didn't deserve that. She only deserved the good things, the things she worked for and the things people gave her. Not this.

An hour later, Riza fell asleep with Roy still wrapped around her. His phone rang, and he reached over to his dresser after letting go of Riza to answer.

"Hey, Roy!" It was Jean. "How's it going? Your little problem back yet?"

"Jean, she isn't a problem. Don't worry about it." Roy was just about to hang up when Jean piped up again.

"So, still excited for the date tomorrow?"

"I'm not sure if that will be a possibility, Jean. She's hurt."

"Fuck. Let's do something else for her then."

"Like what?"

"Like we keep her in her room and still have the date. If she's hurt what better way to take her mind off things than to hang with friends. She knows Fuery and Rebecca , and you. It's just gonna be a little get-together."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea…" Roy looked at her horribly shortened hair.

"Sure it is! We'll see you lovebirds tomorrow night." Jean hung up and Roy sat there, looking at his phone. Well, if they were her friends they wouldn't mind.

Riza woke up in a fit of pain. Roy rushed over to her from the other side of the connected beds and was by her side. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Don' t worry about me." She smiled. Her voice was almost back, only cracking occasionally.

Roy hated seeing her in such a state; constant and indescribable pain. He could only hardly relate because of his leg, which no longer hurt and was almost healed. He just needed to stay off it for a while. Having her entire back and the back of her head _burned…_ it must have been horrible. Roy felt food rising to his throat at the thought that her own father did that to him. He simply could not ignore that fact. '_I'm going to kill him. Burn him. I want to hear him scream the way he made Riza scream. He's going to burn to ashes. I'm going to become his student, and I'm going to kill him. Hear that, Professor? You're going to be my bitch._'

He looked into Riza's pained eyes and made his promise resolute.

* * *

Hello my darlings! I'm hope you like my story, and I hope that this chapter pleased you. Just so you know, I usually update every Saturday, but I might get lazy and post on Sunday. Do you have any questions, recommendations, requests for what to see? Go ahead and ask me in the reviews section or message me however you like. You can also read this on my royai-based blog, .com In the next chapter, expect... actually i'm not going to tell you. I promise it's going to be mostly relief though. Thank you to the few of you who left reviews saying how I should update soon; you pushed me past my procrastination and forced me to finish this chapter for you. I'll see you all next week! Goodbye my lovelies!


	7. Chapter 7

Hey guys! I'm so sorry I'm late! I've been crazy busy and then I got lazy and couldn't think of anything to write and it was all just one big disaster. It's here now!

Also, I haven't posted one of these yet but

**Disclaimer: I don't own FMA or FMA:B or any of the characters. If I did, this would be in a manga with more pictures and such and I would probably be bathing in money right now.**

There's a new character in this chapter. I'll explain at the end once you meet her. She's not an original character. Once again, I'll explain.

Thank you to those lovely reviews! Enjoy your much less angsty chapter seven!

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CH 7

The next day, Riza decided to take a shower. She stood up out of bed, immediately falling back down from the sharp pain in her back and head, making her dizzy. Roy immediately slipped into his wheelchair and propped her on his lap.

"Need any help?" he asked, rolling her toward the bathroom and smiling sarcastically.

"I can stand on my own, Roy. If I fall over in the bathroom and have a stroke and can't move, by all means come and help me."

He chuckled and opened the bathroom door for her. Riza stood up and shuffled inside.

"If I'm not out in ten minutes knock," she told Roy, closing the door. He heard the rushing of the shower head as it turned on, quickly followed by the light patting of water droplets coming down.

Roy rolled over to make their beds, relieved that his roommate was already beginning to feel better. He went to straighten the sheets and pull up the blankets, when he noticed something on Riza's pillow. He leaned in closer to look at it, and when he did he was filled with last night's fury.

It was ash, mixed with a fine layer of blood and some hair. Roy clenched his fists to keep from outright screaming from pure rage. "_Hawkeye,_" he whispered menacingly to himself, _"You will __**not**__ get away with this. Not ever."_

Roy took off the pillow cover and tossed it in the dirty laundry basket behind the beds. He heard the shower head turn off, and Riza shuffling as she got dressed and brushed her teeth.

The shower had felt amazing; Riza noticed that most, if not all, of the residue from the flames had come out of her hair, which had already begun to grow back and nearly cover all of the bald spots, which were just bald because of clumps of blood sticking the hair together. The warm water butchered her back, so she decided on a cold shower, which felt great. Once she walked out of the shower she felt much better. She put on a simple t-shirt and pair of shorts and brushed her teeth, walking out.

"Well, that felt great," she began as she noticed Roy doing something that was actually helpful. "Oh, it seems you're not feeling to bad yourself. Look at you, making the beds." She smiled and stretched, wincing as she accidentally did so over her burnt muscles . "I'm in the mood for breakfast, care to come with me?"

Roy looked at her. "And have you push me around all day?"

"Well you're big and strong. You can push yourself. Come on, I'll help you down the stairs at least."

Roy grumbled compliantly and put on some fresh clothes.

Riza grabbed the handles of the wheelchair and wheeled him out the door. When they got to the stairs she stopped.

"These are steeper than I thought," she said to herself.

Roy turned in his chair and looked at her. "Oh!" he said sarcastically. "Well we're big and strong. Why don't we think of something else like _oh I don't know, the elevator?_"

Riza rolled her eyes. "The elevator's broken, genius. Come one, don't be a baby. It's only like thirty stairs or something. Plus, there're breaks in between. Hold on tight."

He grumbled some more and tightened his grip on the beaten-down chair. "Fine. Don't kill me."

Riza smirked, then remembered something. "Oh! That reminds me!" She rushed back to their room. Roy looked at her, more than a little alarmed.

"Reminds you of what? Riza…" He deeply considered just rolling down the stairs himself for a moment or two. When Riza came back, Roy still had his alarmed expression clearly painted across his face. She reached into her bag and held up the handgun her grandfather had given her, double checking to see that the safety was clicked on.

"Just in case." She smiled and looked purposefully at Roy.

Roy swallowed and clutched his chair as she started popping him down the stairs.

"Ow, ow! Hey! Could you be more careful?" Roy complained.

"Oh, be quiet. We're almost down the first flight."

"Well I'd be quieter if the chair was less electric on the steps, I feel like you're executing me!"

"Be quiet, Roy."

They got down the first flight and took a few seconds of a break at the platform separating floor 2 from floor 3.

"I bet it'd be easier if I just pushed myself," Roy challenged. Riza sighed.

"You'd probably get yourself killed. Don't do it."

It was too late. Roy had already begun to wheel away from her and down the stairs.

"See?" he asked as he carefully stopped himself at the first and second steps. "It's not so baAAAAHH!"

Roy slipped trying to get to the third step, sending him barreling down the remaining ones, screaming.

"Roy!" Riza yelled, racing down the steps. Roy had gotten all the way to the platform and smacked, head first, into the concrete wall of the building. The inertia caused him to bounce back, and he stayed there, winded and groaning.

"Roy?" she said again once she reached him. "Are you alright?" Gingerly, she lifted his head. There was a large, purplish bruise forming across the top of his forehead. He opened his eyes and looked at her after catching his breath.

"I'm not dead." He smiled.

"Oh, good. You're fine." Riza rolled her eyes and grabbed the handles of the wheelchair. Roy turned sideways in his chair, claiming that he didn't want to hit his head again if Riza dropped him. "Whatever," she complied. As she made her way down the last flight of stairs, she tripped. It wouldn't have been a big deal, and nothing would have happened after she regained her footing had Roy not instinctively turned and grabbed Riza by the waist as a form of protection. She slipped again and fell onto Roy's lap about halfway down the stairs, and down they fell, on an old wheelchair, until it came to the ground and Riza fell out, cushioning Roy's fall onto the ground.

"I should have left you in the room," she groaned, pushing Roy's struggling body off of her own. "You're almost more trouble than you're worth." She rubbed where she had fallen on her back, which stung evilly as she plucked her sticking shirt from her back. She winced, catching Roy's attention as he lay sprawled on the ground.

"Hey, you okay?" He asked, worried and suddenly filled with a silent rage toward Professor Hawkeye.

Riza looked at him. "I'm fine, Roy. Worry about yourself before you worry about me." She struggled to get him back into his chair. "Let's go get some breakfast."

Roy rubbed his forehead all the way to the place Riza had chosen for breakfast. It was a small coffee shop that had a tiny food menu, mostly consisting of sandwiches and soup.

"How'd you find this?" Roy asked.

"Fuery told me about it a few weeks back when he was out getting supplies for me." She answered.

They enjoyed some coffee and ordered the cheapest sandwiches the menu offered them, chatting absently for a while as they waited. They decided to stay outside while they ate.

Riza sat down on a park bench, and Roy wheeled up next to her. They ate and drank in silence for several minutes. When Riza got up to throw her cup away, she tripped over a raised crack in the sidewalk.

Instinctively, Roy reached out for her, and caught her just as she was about to fall. He clutched her closer, and when she had regained her balance he muttered, very briefly and to himself, "I guess we're each others' legs, huh."

Riza heard this, but decided not to comment.

The time finally came when they had to go back up the stairs. It was mostly Riza complaining about Roy moving too much in the chair, with his retort being "Well, I wouldn't move around so much if I weren't worried about you tripping!" They stayed in their room and got caught up on their lessons, and then evening came.

There was a knock.

"Come in," Roy said to the door. Fuery came in. "Hey, mind if I stick around?" he smiled shyly.

"Not at all," Riza answered. She turned around to put down her Politics and Economics book, and Fuery noticed her lack of hair. He looked worriedly at Roy, who shook his head urgently, silently praying that he wouldn't ask about her hair. He got the message.

As Riza turned back around, she saw Kain share a quick glance with Roy and briefly wondered what that could possibly be about, but dismissed the thought. "So, Kain," she began. "What brings you here?"

"Oh, um… I uh, brought some food. It's just outside. I thought I'd share it with you guys since you're cooped up in here most of the time." He went back outside to get the food, and bumped into someone. Riza heard the interaction go something along the lines of:

"Oh! I'm sorry, are you alright?" Kain asked. A soft but perky female voice replied back.

"No worries, it's fine. It'll wash off, I'm sure." Riza could almost hear the smile in the girl's voice.

"It's all over your shirt… Here, my friend will let you borrow a shirt, and I'll wash that one off before it gets stained with grease or whatever's in Chinese takeout food."

They both laughed, and the girl accepted the offer and came in.

She wasn't tall, about five and a half feet or so by Riza's speculation. She had neatly combed brown hair and a friendly smile that made Riza want to smile back. Roy looked at her and thought that she was very pretty. '_Almost as beautiful as Riza,'_ he thought to himself.

Riza reached for one of her more comfortable shirts to offer the girl. She put it on over her soup-stained white t-shirt and slipped the stained one off from underneath, thanking Riza and keeping her shirt in her hands until Kain took it and started dabbing at the stain with tap water.

"Sorry that had to happen to you," Riza told the girl. "By the way, I'm Riza. This is Roy," she nodded toward Roy, sitting on the bed next to her. "And that's Kain, who spilled soup all over you. Sorry again."

"Oh, don't worry about it," the girl answered. "I'm Molly. Nice to meet you!" Roy gestured for her to sit down wherever she liked, and she chose the floor, next to Fuery. He blushed and continued dabbing at the shirt with more focus. Molly ruffled the shirt Riza had given her. "This is really comfortable, where'd you get it?" she wondered.

Riza shrugged. "I don't remember. Maybe my granddad gave it to me for my birthday or something. He had this thing for really weird gifts." She chuckled.

Molly raised an eyebrow, but didn't ask any follow-up questions. Instead, she saw Roy's leg propped up in front of him. "Roy, what happened to your leg? Are you okay?"

Roy glanced at Riza. "She," he pointed at her accusingly, "Wasn't paying attention. So I had to save her unseeing little ass."

"Well, it's a good thing you're my eyes, Roy." Riza said, smiling while simultaneously feeling horribly guilty. "Plus, your leg's getting better. I bet you'll be able to walk by next week or so."

"It's only like that because you made Fuery go get your medical supplies."

"Appreciate it." Riza said with finality. Molly looked at Kain. "You got them the supplies they needed? That must have been terrifying."

Kai n shrugged. "I just needed to buy things quickly. It wasn't a big deal."

"Well, I know who I'm going to if I need things to be bought."

Fuery blushed again. "It was nothing," he murmured, continuing to dab Molly's shirt.

"Hey!" Roy began changing the subject. "There's food. Let's eat!"

Fuery smiled, but then thought about something. '_Oh no. Where's Rebecca?'_ He checked his phone to call her, but instead saw a text message that read,

"Hi, Kain! Sorry I couldn't be there with you and Riza and that Roy guy she's dating. I've been waiting SO LONG for her to get a boyfriend and I can't even be there for it! Jean told me the wrong day. He told me to come NEXT WEEK, so that's when I booked a train. I didn't have enough money to buy a last-minute ticket out of here and I already made plans. Hopefully you'll find some other person- why not you and Jean? That's always an option. Sorry again!

-R. Catalina"

'_Great.'_ He thought. Then he looked over at Molly. Maybe it was best Rebecca wasn't here. She WAS very pretty, after all. Fuery offered her some soup and rice out of a Styrofoam box.

"I'll be careful not to spill it," she said. Fuery laughed.

Roy still had two textbooks in his hand. He sighed, looking at the food laid out in front of him. Riza saw him and sighed.

"You're pathetic sometimes," she informed him, picking up his fork and filling it with rice before shoving it in his mouth.

"Hm," he said around his mouthful of Chinese takeout. "I'm okay with that if it means you'll feed me."

Riza smiled and shook her head, shoving more rice into his mouth. After a struggle to swallow all of it, he took a dramatic breath in. "You could have suffocated me!"

"Or you could have starved. Are you just prone to dying, Roy?" she asked.

Roy shrugged innocently, and everyone laughed.

As she laughed, Riza thought to herself, '_Guess that means I'll need to protect him a little more.'_

She smiled and continued feeding him, and eventually Kain started to do the same thing to Molly. She had begun to try and clean her shirt, and he was trying to pop small bits of carrot into her mouth as she cleaned the stain off.

"These are overcooked," she mentioned as she swallowed yet another carrot bite.

"At least they're not cold. I don't think there's anything worse than a cold carrot." Fuery added. Molly nodded in agreement and grunted pleasantly around her still-full-of-carrot-mouth.

"Ugh," Roy complained, "I'm super tired. Aren't you guys?" He leaned his head on Riza's shoulder, who leaned back so they were in equilibrium. She yawned. "I am, too. That's… strange. I wonder if we ate too much?"

Kain shrugged as he yawned, too. "Maybe." He laid down on the floor, and Molly curled up next to him, asleep. "Mind if we stay the night?"

Roy was already asleep, so Riza consented. "Sure, whatever. Night, guys." She nodded off and fell asleep on top of Roy, snoring quietly.

Outside, someone was waiting and listening to see if the students were asleep yet.

* * *

Yes, so, Molly. She is an actual human being who won a promo contest I did. I'll do said promo once every week, every Wednesday from 8:00pm until 10:00pm or so on . I'll be under the tags "Royai", "fma", and "fmab". Winner gets to either help me write the upcoming week's chapter or gets to be in the chapter itself! If you have any questions, as me at my Royai blog which is .com

I'll see you next week my darlings! And perhaps on Wednesday, too!


	8. Chapter 8

Hello my darlings! I'm SO INCREDIBLY SORRY I wasn't on last week! I was ill and then school and it was not a pretty picture. This chapter, however, has had two weeks of work done on it, so it's not too shabby if I do say so myself. I hope you enjoy it!

PS- I don't own FMA because if I did I would combust with power

PPS- This week's winner was Ellie- she's pretty hard to miss. I hope you like her!

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CH 8

"Sir, it worked." Behind the door, a girl whispered into her cell phone.

"Excellent, Ellie. Thank you. Can you figure a way inside without waking them up?"

"I can try to pick the lock." Ellie searched her satchel for a lock-picking kit and came across her broken sunglasses and a bobby pin. '_Close enough,'_ she thought. She looked around to make sure no one was coming, though really, no one should. Everyone would either be studying or out partying with their friends somewhere, wouldn't they?

"Perfect. Do that and call me back for further instruction." The phone call ended.

The girl named Ellie knelt down in front of the door and began wiggling at the lock. After several minutes and some mild grunting, it finally clicked unlocked. '_Finally.'_ She opened the door. It made a loud creaking sound, which she winced at. "Please don't wake up," she begged silently. She opened the door about half way before bumping into something.

'**_Shit_**_'_.

She glanced over at what she had bumped into, which just so happened to be the foot of a pretty brunette that Ellie didn't remember planning on having there. She looked to make sure that, oh what was her name? She looked at the picture she had been given. '_Hawkeye's daughter. Riza. She's the one I was told to grab.'_ She looked around. Sure enough, there was that little blonde, smothered underneath a baby-faced guy with jet-black hair. Even though the position didn't look comfortable, the blonde looked rather pleased in her sleep. Ellie wondered for a moment what she could be dreaming about before proceeding toward her. Once she carefully stepped her way toward the bed, she texted her boss.

"_Hey, I'm here. She's in a pretty rough position. I can't grab and go. Want me to take a picture and leave?_

_-E"_

After a few minutes, she got her reply.

"_Yes. Take several. As many as you can, as close as you can. We'll worry about picture quality later. Make sure no one wakes up._

_-S"_

Ellie nodded at her cell phone before turning the shutter-sound on silent and switching it to camera mode. She looked at the girl; Riza. The one with all the secrets engraved so delicately on her back. The secret, she was told, to power. To the Fuehrer's throne and to making entire countries submit in terror.

The secret to Flame Alchemy.

Ellie stepped forward, right to the edge of the bed. If she wanted to get those pictures, she would have to move Hawkeye's daughter's little friend. He was practically on top of her. _'Oh, wait.'_ He groaned and rolled completely on top of her, wrapping his harms around her shoulders.

'_Who… are you?'_ Roy thought. He knew he was too tired to do anything, but this stranger wasn't allowed to hurt Riza. He had heard her come in as the door creaked open. He was so exhausted he even struggled to think clearly. '_Don't… don't touch Riza. Don't do it. What do …you…do you want?'_ He grabbed Riza as tight as she could before falling back asleep with a knowledge that he would probably regret this as soon as they all woke up enough to realize that he had fallen asleep with Riza in his arms.

Ellie huffed. "Well, someone's a tad obsessive," she muttered. She tried to pry his arms off of the girl so that she could get some pictures of her back, but the attractive black-haired guy wouldn't get off of her. "Hmm." She knew that the boss wouldn't be too pleased if she came back empty-handed. She picked up her phone and called him.

"Hey, her friend's all wrapped around her and I can't get him off. If you want this done, you'll have to come over here." She heard a displeased growl come from the other line.

"I'll be there in five minutes. Make sure they stay asleep." The phone call ended. Sure enough, five minutes later in came her boss, silent and almost shaking with rage and anticipation.

"There you are," Ellie said. "Look, her friend's completely covered her up. I can't pry him off without him waking up."

"Well, we can try." Her boss went over to try and pull Roy Mustang off of Berthold's daughter. Ellie was right, he was holding onto her tight. "Perv," the boss whispered.

Roy was slightly more awake now, still pretending to be asleep. Whatever it was they ate didn't wear off easily. He held on tighter to Riza. Ellie suggested that they pick him up from his back and move him over, so they didn't need to pry his arms off. They did exactly that and took blurred pictures of the bottom of Riza's back, where there were a couple of inverted triangles within circles, with words around the circles overlapping each other. Inside one of the triangles was the picture of a moon, and on the other was another circle and a dot.

"This will be helpful enough. Flame alchemy is inevitably within my grasp." The boss said. "Ellie, you can go."

Ellie gave a slight bow and rushed out of the door. The boss turned toward the sleeping students on the bed.

"Well," he said at last. "Looks like Berthold's secret hiding place wasn't any good after all. Unfortunately for you, I'm going to become Fuehrer as a flame alchemist. I'll be able to make foreign countries do my bidding, and I'll have an entire army of flame alchemists by my side. Amestris will become even stronger than it is now. And I have your," he paused to stroke Riza's hair, "father to thank for that."

At his touch, Riza woke up as well. '_What's going on…? Where's Ro- oh. He is so dead.' _She struggled weakly against his firm grasp before feeling an unfamiliar hand touching her head, and was still again.

'_Who are you?'_

She heard the man speak again. "You will see me again soon, Miss Hawkeye." There were footsteps and the creaking of the door opening and closing.

As the door closed, she struggled more violently against Roy, who had let her go and was sitting weakly next to her. Riza had laid down, still drowsy.

"Roy," she murmured. "Who… who was that man? Do you know him?" She asked

Roy shook his head, equally confused. "They were trying to get a picture of your back without waking us up," he told her. "That's all I could figure out." He looked down at the floor, where Fuery and Molly were still asleep, cuddling and smiling. '_They're so cute,' _he thought, '_I wish Riza and I were like that.'_

He glanced at Riza, who had also seen them. "We could be that cute," she expressed his exact thought. "If we wanted." She laughed. It had been a joke, which disappointed Roy.

"Heh… yeah…"

They were waking up more now, and Riza decided to go get them some coffee. It would be quicker without Roy, she had said. And besides, she was still too tired to push him down and up all those stairs. She left the room quickly with a handful of cash in her hand. Twenty minutes later, she was back with four black coffees and a grocery bag filled to the brim with free sugar packets and creamers, along with a handful of stirring straws.

"I didn't want to pay for sugar and cream," she reasoned. "So I just took the free stuff."

Roy laughed. "How did you even get away with that?"

Riza just smiled.

They woke up Kain and Molly, who woke up smiling. When they saw their position, they blushed horribly and turned away, both of them trying to apologize at the same time and stumbling over their words. Riza laughed at them and shoved a warm coffee into their hands. "Drink it, you need to wake up."

They laughed and woke up from the food they ate, and heard someone walking outside, dismissing it as a student.

Ellie had returned, reluctantly, to the dorm room and was standing outside the hall. "Sir, this is absurd," she said over her headpiece. "You already have what you need. Just try it out and see if it works."

"Ellie, I need to know how to do it. Only Hawkeye's formula can explain it, and only his daughter has it. So we need to get her anyway. It'll be easier now that her boyfriend's not tying her down."

Ellie sighed and clicked off her headpiece. This was not going to be fun, and she was sure she would regret it later. She put her head in a tight-fitting hat and put an eye and nose-mask on that complemented her gloves. "Here we go." She sighed to herself, but really whatever the boss wanted done got done. She didn't really have a say in the matter, not if she wanted her friend to stay safe from being found out by the oppressive Amestris military. He wouldn't even let her use her real name; Trisha. Her name was an acronym, he told her. E for the first letter of her last name. L because of everything she's lost. The other L for what he told her she's loved in equal, if not greater, amount. The last E because she'd be working for him for an eternity, he said. Ellie sighed, thinking about her friend, Van. Then, slowly, she opened the door.

"Who's this?" came the deep, cautious voice of one of her friends. Ellie heard one of the girls respond in a light, quiet voice, "Sir, are you in the right room? It's late. Maybe you mixed up the numbers."

Ellie didn't do or say anything for a moment. The she turned her head toward Riza. The blonde trembled for a moment, and clutched onto her purse. _'I guess she can keep her purse.'_ Ellie thought, racing toward her. She didn't think. She just ran toward Berthold's daughter, took her by both arms, and dragged her out of the room, screaming. She took her down the stairs, and she struggled faintly and screamed but no one came to the poor girl's aid. Ellie came close to just letting her go, but she didn't. The boss threatened to hurt Van, and she didn't want anyone touching him. '_I'm sorry, sweetie,'_ Ellie thought as she pushed her into the car and off to the headquarters.

As the car stopped after a couple of hours, Riza heard someone open the door and blindfold her. They then took her hands firmly and tied them behind her back in a tight knot. '_I'm not getting out of here any time soon'_ she knew.

As they walked her to who-knows-where, she heard two voices talking. One was a sassy female and the other sounded very familiar. Then she remembered. _'It's him,' _she thought._ 'It's the man who tried to take pictures of my back.'_ Riza immediately became terrified, but didn't say or express anything and clinging tightly to her purse, which was clutched in her tied hands.

They finally sat her down and undid her blindfold.

"Hello, Miss Hawkeye." The voice said.

* * *

Did you like it? Yes, questions will be answered, I promise (eventually). I'm working on your chapter 9 right now. I have decided that instead of doing Omegle chats on Wednesdays (which was a bad idea), I'll be doing chats on Fridays, and on Saturdays I'll be doing to chat with the competition to help write the next week's chapter or to be in it. On Fridays I'll be on from 8:30pm EST until 9:30pm EST. Saturdays I'll be on from 8:00pm EST until 9:30pm. I hope to see you all soon! I'm going to be under the tags "royai", "fma", and "fmab".


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